France Summons Israeli Ambassador Over Warplane Incident
I don't normally post entire stories from other media, but I do think this one here is a read, and I'd like to save you the pain of clicking through. Somehow this was missed in the UK media.
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The French government summoned Thursday Israel's ambassador to Paris to complain about an incident in which warplanes dived menacingly on French troops in south Lebanon, officials in Paris said.
The ambassador, Daniel Shek, was called to speak to officials at the French foreign ministry, that ministry and the French defense ministry said. French officials said Israeli military aircraft dived towards French troops serving with the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the south.The French troops had been within "two seconds" of firing on the aircraft and a "catastrophe" was narrowly avoided, French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said Wednesday.
Her ministry said the incident occurred October 31 but did not say where exactly. France currently leads the UNIFIL and is due to hand over command to Italy in February.The French foreign ministry has accused Israel of violating the terms of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 that ended the Israel-Hizbullah war by sending its warplanes over Lebanon.
It has also noted that UNIFIL has a robust mandate permitting it to respond to aggressive moves by either Hizbullah or the Israeli military. "When Israeli aircraft recently 'dived' on French UNIFIL soldiers, it is a miracle that nothing serious happened, because there could have been a response on the part of French troops," Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said Wednesday.
The Israeli military on Thursday said it had no knowledge of any such incident.
Shelina's comment: no knowledge of events is a familiar statement from Israel. They used a similar excuse about Beit Hanoun when I heard their spokesperson on the BBC respond to that event.
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The French government summoned Thursday Israel's ambassador to Paris to complain about an incident in which warplanes dived menacingly on French troops in south Lebanon, officials in Paris said.
The ambassador, Daniel Shek, was called to speak to officials at the French foreign ministry, that ministry and the French defense ministry said. French officials said Israeli military aircraft dived towards French troops serving with the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the south.The French troops had been within "two seconds" of firing on the aircraft and a "catastrophe" was narrowly avoided, French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said Wednesday.
Her ministry said the incident occurred October 31 but did not say where exactly. France currently leads the UNIFIL and is due to hand over command to Italy in February.The French foreign ministry has accused Israel of violating the terms of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 that ended the Israel-Hizbullah war by sending its warplanes over Lebanon.
It has also noted that UNIFIL has a robust mandate permitting it to respond to aggressive moves by either Hizbullah or the Israeli military. "When Israeli aircraft recently 'dived' on French UNIFIL soldiers, it is a miracle that nothing serious happened, because there could have been a response on the part of French troops," Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said Wednesday.
The Israeli military on Thursday said it had no knowledge of any such incident.
Shelina's comment: no knowledge of events is a familiar statement from Israel. They used a similar excuse about Beit Hanoun when I heard their spokesperson on the BBC respond to that event.
posted by Shelina Zahra Janmohamed at 09:45
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